(This analysis is a preview of the Commerce
section in the forthcoming AAAS Report XXX: Research and Development FY
2006, a comprehensive look at the President’s budget for R&D in
FY 2006. This analysis contains revised AAAS estimates of Commerce R&D,
different from figures presented in the AAAS Preliminary
Analysis of February 10. More tables and continually updated supplemental
materials on R&D in the FY 2006 budget can be found on the AAAS R&D
Web site at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
Highlights
- Once again, the Bush Administration proposes to eliminate the Advanced
Technology Program (ATP) at the Department of Commerce in FY 2006. The ATP
has a budget of $140 million this year.
- The budget
would also reduce funding for the non-R&D Hollings Manufacturing
Extension Partnership (MEP) by 57 percent down to $47 million (see Table
II-14).
- The savings
would allow for a 12.7 percent boost for intramural research at the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories (see
Table II-14) after a similar increase this
year, and a doubling of the Construction of Research Facilities (CRF)
investments in NIST laboratory facilities.
- National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) R&D would decline by 11.2
percent to $565 million, mostly from the proposed elimination of FY
2005 congressional earmarks. Most NOAA research programs would stay
at or slightly above current funding levels.
Department of Commerce R&D in the FY 2006 Budget: NOAA and NIST Cuts
Proposed
The Department
of Commerce’s two major R&D agencies—the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST)—would both have declining R&D portfolios in the FY 2006 budget.
NOAA R&D would fall 11.2 percent or $71 million to $565 million
while NIST R&D would fall 9.7 percent to $416 million (see Table
II-14). These cuts would
leave total Commerce R&D at $1.0 billion in FY 2006, a cut of $121
million or 10.6 percent.
In a repeat of the last several budget requests, the FY 2006 budget proposes
to eliminate NIST’s Advanced Technology Program
(ATP). Although the House has sided with the Bush Administration
in voting to eliminate the program in previous budget bills, the program
has been saved every year by the Senate. Last year was no exception:
the House and Administration zeroed out the program but the Senate prevailed
with an appropriation of $140 million, down substantially from $177
million in 2004, of which $114 million would go for R&D costs. The
FY 2006 budget does not request approximately $30 million in close-out
costs for ATP, which would presumably have to be found in other NIST
accounts if Congress agrees to the request.
The budget would
also reduce funding for the non-R&D Hollings
Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) by 57 percent down to
$47 million. MEP operates a nationwide network of extension centers
to disseminate better manufacturing technologies to small- and medium-sized
manufacturers on a cost-shared basis with state governments and with
users. The MEP has had its ups and downs in recent years. Historically,
it has received roughly $100 million a year, including the $108 million
for this year, but in FY 2004 MEP only received $39 million and would
receive a similar amount next year. The FY 2006 budget would leave MEP
center funding heavily in state hands. As a result, many MEP centers
will likely close as states continue to face tough budgetary times.
The ATP and MEP
savings would allow for a 12.7 percent boost for intramural research
at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories
to $357 million. But the requested increase could come at a
high cost: two years ago, the Administration requested a large increase
for the NIST laboratories and the elimination of ATP. Congress saved
the ATP but found the money by cutting deeply into NIST’s
intramural R&D and MEP. In FY 2004, these cuts meant delays or cancellations
of planned projects. The FY 2005 budget provided some relief through
extra funds for the NIST labs, ATP, and MEP, but the FY 2006 request
presents Congress with a familiar dilemma: saving the ATP or restoring
funding to MEP could require cuts in NIST laboratories, and even eliminating
the ATP could require Congress to provide $30 million or so in close-out
costs out of the laboratory accounts.
With the intramural
R&D increase, NIST plans to invest an additional $20 million for
an Advances in Manufacturing initiative to perform R&D on standards
and measurement technologies needed by U.S.
industry, including a new nanotechnology user facility and nanomanufacturing
research, and an additional $17 million for measurement infrastructure
investments.
Figure 1. (click
on the image for PDF)
Another NIST R&D program,
Construction of Research Facilities, would double to $59 million, after
excluding $43 million in congressionally designated projects inserted into the
FY 2005 budget. The FY 2006 request would allow for major renovations to NIST
facilities in Maryland and Colorado.
NOAA R&D would fall by 11.2 percent down to $565 million. The
FY 2006 request would keep most NOAA R&D programs level-funded or
would increase funding; the overall cuts would be due primarily to the
proposed elimination of 2005 congressional earmarks. In Oceanic and
Atmospheric Research, or NOAA Research, the total R&D portfolio
would fall, but most of the cuts would be from earmarks. NOAA’s
climate research program would stay even at $178 million, but the elimination
of $18 million in earmarks would allow for an equally sized increase
in core research. Weather and air quality research would fall to $38
million from $51 million because of the elimination of earmarks. Funding
for the National Sea Grant College Program would stay even at $61 million.
Begun in 1966, Sea Grant provides research grants to more than
200 universities to gain better understanding of marine life and marine
resources through education, outreach, and technology transfer. The
National Undersea Research Program would keep core funding even in 2006
but would decline from $17 million to $10 million after cutting out
earmarks.
Impacts of the Commerce R&D Portfolio
The steep cut to
Commerce’s R&D portfolio in FY 2006 would represent the fourth year
in a row of decline, as shown in Figure 1. Although Commerce R&D
grew substantially in the first half of the 1990s as NIST’s
technology programs and NOAA’s environmental
programs gained in priority, Commerce R&D funding has stagnated
since FY 1995, with large swings due to the up-and-down fortunes of
the ATP, changing construction needs at the NIST laboratories, and tight
budgets for NOAA.
The differing missions
of NOAA and NIST mean that Commerce has a diverse research portfolio
in terms of science and engineering disciplines, as shown in Figure
2. NOAA funds environmental sciences and life sciences research related
to its oceanic and atmospheric missions, while NIST funds engineering,
physical sciences, mathematics, and computer sciences research.
NOAA’s
research has increased at a more predictable rate than NIST research,
resulting in mostly steady increases in Commerce support for research
in the environmental sciences and the life sciences (see Figure 2),
although life sciences research has leveled off in recent years. The
proposed cuts to NOAA R&D would result in shrinking support for
the environmental sciences. NIST research, however, has been subject
to the ups and downs of key NIST programs. NIST support for the engineering
sciences and the computer sciences has lagged since FY 1995, and recent
and proposed budget cuts will most likely result in continuing cuts
in NIST support. NIST support for the physical sciences, however, has
mostly remained steady and has shown upward trends in most years as
the NIST labs move aggressively into nanotechnology, materials, and
homeland security. But the 2005 and proposed 2006 cuts in ATP could
turn these sharply downward.
Figure 2. (click
on the image for PDF)
- March 9, 2005
(More materials on R&D in the FY 2006 budget,
historical data and charts, and more information on AAAS Report XXX: Research and Development FY 2006, can be found on
the AAAS R&D Web site at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607
www.aaas.org/spp/rd
